Hot MedFax

It's weird how things happen.  Last night at a dinner party I was talking to a woman from Britain (after we got all the royal baby stuff out of the way) about what it used to be like in pubs and restaurants, before all the No Smoking laws went into effect. And today in The Wall Street Journal, there's a story about the 10th anniversary of their enforcement in NYC.  The Associated Press goes on to say, "Few measures in Albany changed life in New York more." Would you believe the number of smokers trying to quite during that time increased to 65%, according to Blair Horner, vice president of advocacy at the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the AP notes? I'd have to agree.  I've never smoked (finally, I'm in the 1% of something!), but my mother did, and I hated the smell of smoke in the house and the ashtrays, and the cloud of smoke in bars when I was hanging out, looking for a mate.  The Brit remembered a couch that turned b...

OK. So you don't drink Big Gulps full of sugary stuff. But did you know that your Starbucks drinks may now be censured, too? According to Vivian Yee and Michael M. Grynbaum, NYC's "new regulations regarding coffee hinge on delicate calculations about milk, calorie and sugar ratios. As with other sugary drinks, coffee cups 16 ounces or smaller are unaffected. But unlike sodas, which will max out at 16 ounces, cups of coffee larger than 16 ounces can still be served as long as the barista adds no more than three to five packets of sugar. (The limit depends on the size of the drink.)" Fortunately (and somewhat nonsensically), those lattes and frothy drinks (Dr. Phil calls them "hot milkshakes") will be exempt, because they are 50% milk and the NYC rules don't apply to them. “This will have no impact on a large cup of joe, unless more than four packets of sugar are added,” Samantha Levine, a city spokeswoman, told Yee and Grynbaum. “Real sweet tooths ...